US20070134110A1

US20070134110A1 - Fan capable of resisting reversed flow

Info

Publication number: US20070134110A1
Application number: US11/299,200
Authority: US
Inventors: Meng-Chic Lin; Chiu-Jih Chang; Ming-Che Lee
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-12-12
Filing date: 2005-12-12
Publication date: 2007-06-14

Abstract

A fan capable of resisting reversed flow includes a frame body, a fan wheel and at least two baffle parts. The frame body has an inlet and an outlet and provides at least an actuating device at the outlet side. The fan wheel is rotationally attached to the inner side of the frame body and provides a hub and a plurality of fan blades extending outward radially along the periphery of the hub. One of the baffle parts is pivotally connected to the outlet side of the frame body and the first baffle part connecting with the actuating device. When the fan stops running, the other baffle part, which is without connecting with the actuating device, pushes the slide element of the actuating device to slide for the baffle part closing the outlet.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a fan capable of resisting reversed flow and particularly to a fan device, which prevents fluid in a system of high heat generation electronic equipment flowing backward to the outside via the fan.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Due to technology progressing to greatly upgrading electronic and network products, executing speeds of the preceding products are getting faster and faster. Especially for host units of industrial computers or servers, the temperatures thereof are getting higher and higher under demands of no shut off and no idling. In order to dissipate heat generated by the computer system effectively for maintaining allowable operating temperatures, a heat dissipation device becomes an indispensable part in the computer system. The conventional heat dissipation devices for the industrial computers or servers are cooling fans being arranged in parallel to help heat removal. But, it is very easy for an industrial computer or server being shut down or damaged once one of the fans is out of order. Hence, how to keep air pressure unchanged in the computer system before the maintenance personnel repairing or replacing the damage parts in the computer is a subject worth us to care.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional system provides a plurality of cooling fans 11 being arranged in parallel at an opening of the system 12. When the cooling fans 11 are in operation, external fluid is dragged into the system 12
However, a problem of the preceding conventional arrangement of fans resided in that the air pressure in the system 12 is equal to that outside the system during the fans 11 running normally. Once one of the fans 11 is out of order and stops running, it breaks balance of air pressure between outside the system and inside the system and leads the fluid inside the system flowing backward and outward the system via the damaged fan 11 as shown in FIG. 2. The flow direction being changed is unfavorable for heat dissipation and it results in the system 12 is shut down due to insufficient heat dissipation caused by the damaged cooling fan being not replaced in time and the system unable to stand long exposure in a high temperature environment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to solve the preceding problem, an object of the present invention is to provide a fan capable of resisting reversed flow in which a actuating device and at least two baffle parts are provided to close the outlet of the damaged fan tightly while the reversed flow moves toward the damaged fan.
Accordingly, the fan capable of resisting reversed flow according to the present invention includes a frame body, a fan wheel and at least two baffle parts. The frame body has an inlet and an outlet and provides at least an actuating device at the outlet side. The fan wheel is rotationally attached to the inner side of the frame body and provides a hub and a plurality of fan blades extending outward radially along the periphery of the hub. One of the baffle parts is pivotally connected to the outlet side of the frame body and the first baffle part connecting with the actuating device. When the fan stops running, the other baffle part, which is without connecting with the actuating device, closes the outlet of the damaged fan and pushes the slide element of the actuating device to slide and actuate the baffle part closing the outlet for stopping the fluid flowing outward enhancing heat dissipation efficiency.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detail structure, the applied principle, the function and the effectiveness of the present invention can be more fully understood with reference to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating the conventional fan applied to a system in a state of running with fluid flowing normally;
FIG. 2 is a sectional view illustrating the conventional fan applied to a system in a state of stop running with part of the fluid flowing backward;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a fan capable of resisting reversed flow according to the present invention;
FIG. 3 a is an enlarged diagram of the dash circle shown in FIG. 3 illustrating pivotal part thereof;
FIG. 4 is another perspective view similar to FIG. 3 illustrating the preferred embodiment of a fan capable of resisting reversed flow according to the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an actuating device in the preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a sectional view illustrating the preferred embodiment of the present invention applied to a system being in a state of running with the fluid flowing normally;
FIG. 7 is a top view illustrating the preferred embodiment of the present invention applied to a system being in a state of stop running with part of the fluid flowing outward the system via the frame member of the fan;
FIG. 8 is a top view illustrating the preferred embodiment of the present invention applied to a system being in a state of stop running with the fluid flowing outward the system being stopped by a baffle part;
FIG. 9 is a side view of the fan shown in FIG. 6;
FIG. 10 is a side view of FIG. 7 illustrating the baffle part moving toward the outlet of the frame member during the fan stop running; and
FIG. 11 is a side view similar to FIG. 10 illustrating the baffle part closing the outlet of the frame member.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIGS. 3, 3 a, 4 and 5, a fan capable of resisting reversed flow includes a frame body 21, a fan wheel 22 and at least two baffle parts 231, 232. The frame body 21 has an inlet 211 as shown in FIG. 4 and an outlet 212. The frame body 21 provides an elongated groove 213 at two opposite lateral sides thereof and each of the grooves 213 has at least has an actuating device 24 respectively. The fan wheel 22 is rotationally disposed in the frame body 21 and includes a hub 221 and a plurality of fan blades 222 extending outward from the hub radially. The two baffle parts 231, 232 are pivotally joined to the frame body 21 at the side of the outlet 212 thereof and the baffle part 232 connects with the actuating device 24.
The frame body 21 further provides a connecting part 25 at the outer sides of corners thereof respectively and the connecting part 25 has a through hole 251. Each of the baffle parts 231, 232 has a protrusion 2311, 2321 respectively at two ends of a lateral side thereof to insert into the through hole 251 of the connecting part 25 respectively as shown in FIG. 3 a such that the baffle parts 231, 232 are pivotally joined to the frame body 21 and able to turn outward from the outlet 212 for opening and closing the outlet 212.
It is preferable that the actuating device 24 is disposed in the grooves 231 respectively and includes a slide rail 241 and a slide element 242. The slide rail 241 is fixedly attached to and projects from the outer side of the frame body 21. The slide element 242 hooks the slide rail 241 and has a receiving part 2421 as shown in FIG. 5 to connect an end of a link element 26 and another end of the link element 26 is connected to the baffle part 232 shown in FIG. 4.
The baffle parts 231, 232 is provided with light weight and the baffle part 231, which is without connecting with the link element 26 has at least a support element 27 and the number of the support element 27 is the same as the slide element 242. The two baffle parts 231, 232 provide a gross area equal to the cross section area of the outlet 212. Further, the support element 27 can be attached to the slide element 242 instead of being attached to the baffle part 231.
Referring to FIGS. 6 to 11, It can be seen in the figures that a system 28 is includes and the system is a high heat generation electronic equipment such as a main unit of an industrial computer or a server. An opening of the system 28 is arranged with a plurality of fans of the present invention in parallel and the inlet 211 of the frame body 21 of each the fans faces outside of the system and the outlet 212 faces the inside of the system 28. When the system is in operation, the heat with high temperature created by the system can be removed by means of outside fluid being dragged into the system from the inlet 211 via the outlet 212 while the fan blades are rotating and heat exchange being performed between the fluid and the heat. In the meantime, the baffle parts 231, 232 are opened by the fluid flow as shown in FIGS. 6 and 9 due to the fluid flowing toward the outlet 212 via the inlet 211. Once one of the fans is out of order and stops running, the fluid stops flowing toward the outlet 212 via the inlet 211 and it results in fluid pressure difference between the outside the system and the inside the system such that fluid in the system 28 flows back toward the damaged fan and intends to move outward via the inlet 211. Right at this time, the baffle part 231, which is without connecting with the actuating device 24, moves to close the outlet 212 due to the reversed flow and the natural dragging force as shown in FIGS. 7 and 10 and the support element 27 attached to the baffle part 231 contacts and pushes the slide element 242 to slide along the guide rail 241 such that the link element 26 is actuated to move another baffle part 232 toward the outlet 212 till closing the outlet 212. In this way, both the baffle parts 231, 232 can close the outlet 212 completely to stop the reversed flow of the fluid inside the system moving outward as shown in FIGS. 8 and 11. Further, the baffle parts 231, 232 are able to shut the outlet 212 tightly to eliminate the pressure difference between the outside of the system and the inside of the system for preventing the system from being damaged or shut down due to too much high temperature and allowing maintenance personnel having sufficient time to replace new parts or carrying out proper repair.
While the invention has been described with referencing to the preferred embodiment thereof, it is to be understood that modifications or variations may be easily made without departing from the spirit of this invention, which is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A fan capable of resisting reversed flow, comprising:

a frame body, having an inlet and an outlet and providing at least an actuating device;

a fan wheel, being rotationally attached in the frame body and providing a hub and a plurality of fan blades extending outward radially along the periphery of the hub; and

at least a first and second baffle parts, being pivotally connected to the outlet side of the frame body and the first baffle part connecting with the actuating device.

2. The fan capable of resisting reversed flow as defined in claim 1, wherein the actuating device further comprises a slide rail and a slide element wit the slide rail being fixedly attached to the frame body and the slide element hooking the slide rail.

3. The fan capable of resisting reversed flow as defined in claim 1, wherein the second baffle part at least has a support part capable of pushing the actuating device to slide.

4. The fan capable of resisting reversed flow as defined in claim 2, wherein the slide element is connected to the first baffle part with at least a link element.

5. The fan capable of resisting reversed flow as defined in claim 2, wherein the frame body has a groove to receive the slide rail.

6. The fan capable of resisting reversed flow as defined in claim 5, wherein the slide element has a receiving part connecting with link element.

7. The fan capable of resisting reversed flow as defined in claim 1, wherein a gross area of the two baffle parts is at least equal to the cross section area of the outlet.

8. The fan capable of resisting reversed flow as defined in claim 1, wherein a plurality of connecting parts corresponding to the baffle parts.

9. The fan capable of resisting reversed flow as defined in claim 8, wherein each of the connecting parts has a through hole.

10. The fan capable of resisting reversed flow as defined in claim 9, wherein each of the baffles has a protrusion part joined to the through hole of the connecting part respectively.